News for the Young Punjab!

Capt Amarinder Singh: Sidhu welcome to join Congress

Congress said Navjot Singh Sidhu was “welcome” to join hands with it. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh mentioned this on the occasion of Suspended Akali Dal MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and former district chief of the party Upkar Singh Sandhu on Tuesday being inducted into the party.

Replying to a query about the possibility of former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu joining the Congress, Amarinder said, everyone was “welcome” to join the party “without any condition” and “whoever does so, would have to follow a certain discipline”.

He reiterated that Sidhu’s ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ front was “welcome” to merge with the Congress but ruled out the possibility of an alliance with it.

Welcoming the former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders into the party, Amarinder said, “This is the beginning of the end for SAD.”

“The exodus from Akali Dal to Congress has just begun and it will keep happening till the election,” he said, adding that there were several other leaders in touch with the party leadership who will join it “in the due course”. Assembly polls are due in Punjab early next year and the Congress is eyeing to wrest power from the SAD-BJP combine.

Amarinder said Bolaria joined the party “unconditionally” and added that the entire rank and file of the Congress in Amritsar welcomed the two into the party. Amarinder, who is also the Amritsar MP, said, Bolaria had a Congress background as his father had worked closely with him in the party before joining the Akali Dal. “It is rather a homecoming for Bolaria,” he said.